It is known to form liquid crystal polymers containing a mesogenic triad unit with three linearly-aligned aromatic rings, the bis(p-carboxyphenyl) terephthalate moiety, and a polymethylene flexible spacer of varying length (e.g., from 2 to 10 CH.sub.2 units). See Polymer Journal, Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 9-17 (1982). One of the monomers used in building such a structure is the .alpha.,.omega.-bis(p-hydroxybenzoyloxy) alkane monomer of the following structure ##STR1## where Ar is a phenyl ring, n is from 2 to 10 and all linkages to the phenyl rings are para-. In those cases where n is 6 or 8, the flexible spacer group --(CH.sub.2).sub.n can be in cyclic form, i.e., cyclohexylene or cyclooctylene.
British Patent No. 1,578,880 at page 2, lines 15-27 indicates that phenols of the above type of structure can be made by esterifying p-hydroxybenzoic acid with ethylene glycol in either the presence or absence of a catalyst which may include toluenesulfonic acid. As illustrated by Comparative Example 3, below, this type of procedure in which p-toluenesulfonic acid is the catalyst yields a product of poor product purity.